At a lot of southern schools, sorority recruitment is right when you get on campus for fall semester. It's an exciting yet exhausting week and a common question for Potential New Members (or PNM for short) is "What should I wear?" as you want to put your best foot forward to the girls who may wind up being your sisters! I shared what I wore as a PNM in this blog post (and what I wore "on the other side of recruitment" in this blog post) and decided to gather my picks for each round as well as explain outfits for each round of recruitment!
Just as a disclaimer, this is heavily based off of Clemson's recruitment as that is what I have experience with so your school's rounds may look a little different! Check with your Panhellenic association to see what they recommend as well!
The first day of recruitment is Round 1, or Open House Round, and this is a chance for every PNM to meet every chapter in fairly short parties (I believe at Clemson, they are 20-25 minutes long). Round 2 is Philanthropy Round and is a bit longer and allows the PNMs to learn about each chapter's philanthropy, which is the charity they support through volunteering and fundraising events. For a general rule of thumb, each day of recruitment gets fancier as the week goes on. So Round 1 is generally the most casual. At Clemson, Panhellenic (the governing body over all of the sororities) provides t-shirts for the PNMs to wear for both Rounds 1 and 2, which is why I included them together. You typically receive your shirts at Recruitment Orientation but check out your Panhellenic's website or Instagram to see the shirt design/color. Even though you may be wearing the same t-shirt as a thousand other girls (literally), you can make your outfit your own by your bottoms and your shoes/accessories. When I went through recruitment, I wore Lilly shorts that complemented my t-shirts one day and then a skort the next day (both Rounds 1 and 2 were 2 days when I was a PNM). It's definitely important to choose comfy shoes for both of these rounds as you'll be visiting the most amount of houses and I definitely recommend wearing bottoms that you are comfortable in as in some rounds, you may be sitting on the floor to watch a philanthropy video.
Round 3 is Sisterhood Round and allows PNMs to get a deeper knowledge of what that chapter's sisterhood is like (many chapters will play a video or some sort of presentation). At Clemson, chapters also do a financial presentation during this round. The dress code for this round is dresses so while it is a step up from the previous days, it isn't super super fancy. Think what you would wear to brunch or to church! Wedges are a pretty popular pick for this round as they are fancy without being too fancy. Some girls choose to do a romper for this round but make sure it's long enough in the back.
Round 4, or Preference Round, is the last day of recruitment and tends to be more serious than the rest. This is the PNM's last opportunity to visit the chapters and decide which one she wants to call home. Since it is a bit more serious, this is the fanciest round of recruitment. Most girls wear high heels with a dress similar to what you would wear to a daytime wedding or a graduation. A lot of chapters wear black or white so I would suggest avoiding those but it is no big deal if you choose a dress in those colors. However, some schools have a tradition of PNMs wearing a specific color at pref (for example, all the PNMs at Georgia wear black dresses) so talk to your Pi Chi (recruitment counselor) to see how it is at your school. I would recommend wearing flip flops or comfy shoes on your way to the party and slipping into your heels before getting into line so your feet aren't in too much pain!
You've finally made it through recruitment week and now the best day is here: Bid Day! Wear comfy shoes- sneakers or sandals are totally fine! I would recommend wearing neutral bottoms, whether it's norts, jean shorts, or white shorts, so you don't clash with your bid day shirt. Your chapter will give you a tank/tee/jersey so wear a tank top that you can easily throw your new shirt on top of!
What is popular to wear at your school for sorority recruitment? Let me know in the comments!
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